'No rough verses' from I, Clodia, by Anna Jackson

This is the way the world ends by Helen Rickerby

This story is about remembering

and forgetting



Not knowing where you are

or if it's real



But you can die with a martini in your hand



*



The girl in pink, skating towards you

has an automatic weapon

behind her back



and this drug will take you to Jesus

if Jesus is a chorus-

line of short-skirt nurses



*



There is too much sun in California

for shadows



*



There are

Lines excerpted from Bentleyisms: by Nelson Bentley

Quick acts of thievery are essential in this business.

Without poetic vision there is no love.

Everyone should write an outhouse poem.

Poets invent the language. There would be no language if it weren't for us. People would just go around grunting.

One extra word can ruin a whole poem.

Visualize your metaphor!

Avoid self-pity like the plague.

Support onamatopoeia.

There's no such thing as

Johnny by John O'Connor

He travelled the length of the country
giving concerts for penguins

tickets were free - or koha.

The trick was to get them early /
"Give me the chick till the age of seven

& I'll give you the bird!!" he'd say.

Arrhh /
most nights the mosh-pit filled quickly

the eggs were incubated by DOC & CNZ.

Naturally
as the events were of national insignificance

the media were ecstatic